Musical Monday
The end of the 1970’s was an unusual time. I have always felt it was a real low-tide in general for arts and entertainment. Of course, the culmination would be the decade coming to a close in 1979.
As I’ve written before, 1979 was one of those interesting years for A Christmas Carol (ACC). An American Christmas Carol gave us a modernized adaptation in the 1930s depression U.S.A. with Henry Winkler. There was the short Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol that was a part of an anthology of new television shorts. Rich Little’s Christmas Carol, though made in ’78, was broadcast by HBO in 1979. Then, there is Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol.
Skinflint is a U.S. television-made musical version of A Christmas Carol that is pretty much forgotten. The creators obviously set it to original country music. Most of the cast is a who’s who of country music stars of the time. There are also a few familiar faces that are not country music stars.
Surprisingly, this has become one those mediocre versions of ACC that for which I’ve slightly mellowed recently. “Mellowed” is the key word here! My very slight shift is that I find the music a bit more memorable watching it this year. The songs don’t stand out; this fact has nothing to do with the performers. They are all good.
This fairly light-hearted version follows the general template of A Christmas Carol reimagined in modern 1979 Tennessee, U.S.A. Scrooge becomes Cyrus Flint (Hoyt Axton), a banker and leading citizen of Flint City, TN. He doesn’t like people withdrawing their own money from his bank; he encourages everyone to deposit their money and keep it there. His Cratchit is Dennis Pritchitt (Mel Tillis). He and his wife (Lynn Anderson) have a sickly son, TJ.
Pritchitt’s wife, Laura, is trying to win a country music songwriting contest. Flint’s nephew, Roger (Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers) is an insurance salesman and invites his uncle to celebrate Christmas with him. Flint receives a visit by his deceased partner, Jacob Burley (Tom T. Hall) to sing to him and let him know three ghosts will be visiting to him. Martha Raye is The Ghost of Christmas Past, who’s costuming makes her look like Minnie Pearl. Barbara Mandrell portrays Flint’s past girlfriend. The Ghost of Christmas Present appears in Flint’s bedroom along with a brass band (Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass). The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is eerie and spooky (I liked it).
Also appearing in various parts and scenes is Dottie West, The Statler Brothers, and late ‘70’s hairstyles. Dave Madden (best known from Laugh-In and as Rueben Kincaid in The Partridge Family) appears in small role as this version’s charity solicitor, looking for a donation from Flint. (I’ve always been curious why Madden thought it was a good idea to use the strange voice he does for his character.)
The concept for this may have seemed good as an idea, but it falls flat in production. Most of cast are good-to-great as country music performers but don’t fare well when stepping away from the microphone. While I seemed to find the songs more enjoyable in 2021, half of them still sound out of place in the context of A Christmas Carol story. Cyrus Flint’s character isn’t even particularly nasty. He’s written as a man that loves money and doesn’t want to let go of any, but his means of obtaining and retaining it are very mild compared to any Scrooge before him. Traditional Dickens lines sound forced and phony when occasionally spoken.
This was only aired on U.S. television once and it has never been released for home viewing. If you’re “lucky” you may find someone with an at home recorded VHS copy. It’s an interesting footnote considering versions of A Christmas Carol and worth viewing as a curiosity.